Non-Mariners Race is a Non-Litter event

THURSDAY, JULY 26: Sandys Boat Club has teamed up with Keep Bermuda Beautiful (KBB) to help promote a litter-free Non-Mariners Race event for 2012.

The Non-Mariners Race is hosted by The Society of Non-Mariners and the Sandys Boat Club and will be held on Sunday, August 5th. This year will be the 40th Anniversary of this annual event at the Club.

With hundreds of boats and thousands of people in Mangrove Bay, trash often ends up overboard through deliberate acts of littering or carelessness.

Sandys Boat Club Commodore Brad Woodings said: “Everyone is asked to please keep their trash on their boat and take it with them when they leave, or to use the bins provided at Sandys Boat Club. We will have extra barrels and dumpsters this year as we work to make the Non-Mariners Race a non-litter event.”

Glass bottles last for hundreds of years and should not be tossed overboard. Additionally everything made of plastic, like cups, straws, food wrappers and cigarette butts are harmful to marine life and should be disposed of properly.

KBB Executive Director Anne Hyde said: “This is definitely one of the best parties of the year. We want to get the message out early to encourage everyone’s commitment to not dispose of any trash overboard, particularly bottles and plastic cups.”

In order to encourage the public to help ensure Non-Mariners is a non-litter event, there will be MC and radio announcements during the event to remind people not to litter, banners and signs will be posted in prominent locations around Mangrove Bay, extra waste barrels and dumpsters will be at Sandys Boat Club, a “Trash Taxi” will be on the water collecting trash from people in the water. Finally, after every Non-Mariners event Sandys Boat Club organizes a post-event clean up.

In September 2011 during KBB’s annual Island-wide Marine Cleanup, a dive team led by Weldon Wade of Bermuda Ocean Explorers cleared hundreds of bottles from the bottom of Mangrove Bay, finding them every few feet.

Ms. Hyde said: “KBB usually gets a dive team in this area every year following the Non-Mariners Race because the volume of beer bottles is so bad. Think of the huge benefits to this special area of Bermuda if we could avoid trashing the place during this event. I think the word ‘non’ is a perfect fit here. Let’s add non-littering to the other non-words that are associated with the Non-Mariners Race.”